“Yes, she'll come back. But I'd rather meet her abroad than here—and get on a different footing.”
“Why?”
“Oh, I don't know. There's something with marriage altogether, I think. Egoisme a deux—”
“What's that mean?”
“Egoisme a deux? Two people, one egoism. Marriage is a self-conscious egoistic state, it seems to me.”
“You've got no children?” said Aaron.
“No. Tanny wants children badly. I don't. I'm thankful we have none.”
“Why?”
“I can't quite say. I think of them as a burden. Besides, there ARE such millions and billions of children in the world. And we know well enough what sort of millions and billions of people they'll grow up into. I don't want to add my quota to the mass—it's against my instinct—”
“Ay!” laughed Aaron, with a curt acquiescence.